Reading the Lightning Thief
by Mage Myrddin
Summary: HIATUS. Winter Solstice. The gods have just found out that Zeus' bolt is missing. The Olympians go into emergency session when the fates appear with two young men and ten books. After some explanations, it is revealed that the two males were in fact the same person but different ages. Percy Jackson. Now the gods must learn of the future and understand their mistakes.
1. Stolen

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

"Where is my Lightning bolt?" Zeus yelled at the top of his voice. Dead silence greeted him. You could have heard a pin drop. He rounded on Apollo.

"Can you see where the bolt will be?"

Apollo shook his head, being serious for once. "That piece of future is closed to me, I will be able to see it only when a prophecy is issued. Even then, I won't be able to tell you specifics until it actually happens."

Zeus growled, an animalistic sound of fury. He turned to face his brothers.

"If either of you have taken my weapon, _brothers,_ " he spat the word. "I will rip you apart."

They both started talking at once.

"You dare accuse me of thievery, Zeus?" Hades demanded. "I would not take your weapon and jeopardize what little time I am still allowed on Olympus-"

"Have you forgotten that gods are forbidden from stealing each other's symbol of power, brother?" Poseidon said, eyes flashing. "I am incapable of-"

"You are incapable of being the thief." Zeus cut off Hades and addressed Poseidon. "But that brat of yours isn't."

Dead silence followed that statement as half the council turned to look at Poseidon accusingly. Poseidon himself took a deep breath and met Zeus's stormy gaze.

"If you touch him, brother." Poseidon began, a promise of violence in his voice. "If you harm a hair on his head then I will rage such a war on you as has not been seen since we finally overthrow the titans and banished our father to Tartarus."

"I know you got your brat to steal it for you-" Zeus began.

"I did no such thing." Poseidon interrupted.

"And I demand that he return it by the summer solstice, or there will be war."

"And I demand an apology for calling me and my son thieves by the same date." Poseidon fired back.

"You'll get no such apology until you give me my lightning bolt back-" Zeus tirade was cut off when a bright light filled the throne room. When the light faded, the three fates were standing there.

Zeus sat down on his throne. "Fates." He greeted cordially. "What is your purpose for being here today?"

"We are here about your future." The fates spoke creepily. "Meet the greatest hero of this age." They stepped to the side to reveal two males. They were both very similar sharing hair colour down to the streak of grey, eye colour and features. The older of the two was perhaps an inch taller and a little thinner, more haggard.

The younger one stepped forward. "Perseus Jackson son of Poseidon, subject of the great prophecy, finder of the master bolt, finder of the helm of darkness, sailor of the sea of monsters, finder of the golden fleece, bearer of the sky, wanderer of the labyrinth, defeater of Kronos and saviour of Olympus."

The Olympians gaped at the young hero. "So the prophecy that made Zeus, Poseidon and Hades swear not to have any more children has played out then?" Apollo asked tentatively.

Percy nodded.

"And Olympus was saved?" He nodded again.

"Yes!" Apollo grinned. "We still exist!"

Zeus turned his attention to the older of the two. "Who are you?" He asked dangerously.

"Him." He pointed to Percy. "Just four years older."

"Titles?" Athena asked. The older Percy looked at her and flinched slightly. "Same as him, as well as a member of the Seven and Hero of Olympus, plus a bunch of other stuff I can't be bothered to remember right now."

Poseidon looked at the older version of his son in concern. Nothing he had done seemed odd or out of place with him, but he could feel Percy's unhappiness and restlessness in the sea inside him, and knew that he was troubled.

"How old are the two of you?" Zeus asked. "Sixteen." The younger one said. "Twenty." The older one answered.

"We're going to need to call you different things, otherwise we won't be able to tell who is talking to who." Athena commented. "What if we call the younger one Percy and the other one Perseus?"

Both of them shrugged. "Sounds good to me." Percy said.

"That's all very well and good, but why have you brought them here?" Hades asked the fates.

"Because we wish you to see the future so you can properly understand the price of war." The fates answered. "We have brought you ten books. The first five are centred on Percy Jackson and the first great prophecy, the second five are centred on the Seven of the second great prophecy, including Perseus Jackson. We have stopped time outside this room. You will not be able to leave until you have finished. That will be all."

A pile of books landed on Athena's lap, and the fates flashed out. Silence ruled the room for a moment, until Athena broke it. "Shall we read, then?" She asked brightly. Zeus sighed and slumped into his throne. "Very well. What is the first book called?" Athena checked quickly.

"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and the first chapter is, I accidentally vaporise my pre-algebra teacher." She read.

"The lightning thief? Did you give me back my bolt?" Zeus demanded eagerly. Perseus rolled his eyes. "Did you listen to Percy's titles at all? Finder of the master bolt. We didn't steal it, we went and found it and got it back for you."

"Oh." Zeus sat back, then turned to Poseidon and cleared his throat awkwardly. "It appears I owe you an apology, brother." He said quietly.

"It appears you do." Poseidon agreed neutrally. "Sorry." Zeus mumbled. Poseidon raised his eyebrow but let it go. He wanted to read the books and find out more about his son, and the time it would take to wrangle a full apology from Zeus wasn't worth it.

Meanwhile, Athena had been thinking away, going back through the titles that Percy listed, trying to gather any information possible out of it. Her eyes widened. "Finder of the helm of darkness!" She burst out.

"Sorry?" Hades asked sharply.

Athena looked at Percy. "When you said what you'd done, you said you were the finder of the helm of darkness. Was that stolen too?"

Percy nodded, and every eye turned to Hades, who shifted under the attention.

"Was your helm stolen too, brother?" Poseidon asked. Hades nodded.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Athena asked. Hades didn't reply.

"Isn't it obvious?" Perseus asked. "He didn't believe you would do anything about it, and in addition his realm might come under attack because of it."

"Do you truly feel that way, Uncle?" Hermes asked. Being the Messenger god he was quite often in and out of the underworld and was on good terms with the lord of the dead. Hades nodded again, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

Zeus sat dumbly for a second before clearing his throat and speaking to Athena. "Why don't you read the first chapter, daughter?" She nodded and began reading.

 **So, this is the first chapter of another story. I know this is a well-done I done idea, but it was irritating me that I couldn't find a single - and I mean _not one_ \- Fanfiction like this that had been finished.**

 **Till next time, my readers, Shib. :)**


	2. I Accidently Vaporize My Maths Teacher

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

 **Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

Perseus snorted and Percy laughed. "Does anyone?" Percy asked rhetorically.

 **If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"Is it really that bad?" Aphrodite asked, sounding unusually down-to-earth about something that wasn't makeup.

Dionysus snorted. "What world do you live in? The brats drop like flies. Most don't even make it to camp. Of course it's that bad."

Poseidon looked at his son - both versions - in worry. Even though there was only four years between them, you could see the way that that short time had affected Perseus. He was less open than Percy, more careworn. He was thinner too, and the bags under his eyes spoke of nightmares to Poseidon. He hoped that the books shed light on this, and that he could help his son.

 **If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"So do we." Percy muttered and Perseus nodded in agreement.

 **But if you recognize yourself in these pages — if you feel something stirring inside — stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"That sounds ominous." Hermes said.

"He's obviously talking about the monsters and the fact that they'd be able to smell demigods better when they know their heritage." Athena snapped.

 **Don't say I didn't warn you. My name is Percy Jackson. I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

"He's a troubled kid?" Demeter asked. "He should eat more cereal, that would straighten him out."

The rest of the room sighed, but didn't say anything.

 **Am I a troubled kid?**

 **Yeah. You could say that.**

"He admits it!" Apollo and Hermes yelled, then burst out laughing. They stopped pretty quickly when Artemis pointedly started to polish her bow.

 **I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan — twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Short miserable life?" Poseidon asked, looking at his son.

"I think we've already gone over the whole demigods-die-young thing, dad." Percy said.

"And most demigods lives are short and miserable." Perseus added.

"It isn't all miserable. You get to visit the museum, that must be pretty interesting." Athena pointed out.

"Interesting?" Ares scoffed. "It sounds like torture."

Athena glared at him.

 **I know — it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were. But Mr Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

"Is that Chiron?" Athena interrupted herself to ask.

"Yep." Percy said. Perseus didn't even bother replying, just smiled slightly as he remembered his mentor and friend.

 **Mr Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"You sleep in class?" Athena asked coldly.

"It doesn't matter Athena." Hestia said gently. "What's done is done. Why don't you just carry on reading?"

Poseidon shot a grateful look to Hestia. She nodded slightly in response.

 **I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Not gonna happen." Hades sang under his breath. Poseidon glared at him.

 **Boy, was I wrong. See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

Hermes and Apollo were rolling around on the floor at this. Even Ares was laughing.

"Uncle P, your kid is gold." Hermes gasped out. Poseidon smiled in acknowledgement. "If you just let me teach him-"

"Absolutely not." Poseidon cut him off.

 **This trip, I was determined to be good. All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly red-headed kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend, Grover, in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Ares growled and everyone looked at him. "What? I don't like bullies. Just fights. And war."

 **Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"That's not a nice way to describe your best friend." Hestia frowned at him reprovingly.

"Never mind that, he almost blew his cover for enchiladas!" Zeus fumed. "As if not saving my daughter wasn't bad enough!"

Hera glared at him.

 **Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death-by-in-school-suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Aww." Hermes complained. "I was looking forward to it."

 **'I'm going to kill her,' I mumbled. Grover tried to calm me down.**

"Don't calm him down, stupid satyr, we want him to kill her." Ares fumed.

"No, we don't." Artemis snapped.

 **'It's okay. I like peanut butter.' He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"In your hair?" Aphrodite wrinkled her nose.

 **'That's it.' I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

 **'You're already on probation,' he reminded me. 'You know who'll get blamed if anything happens.'**

"It'll be you, won't it?" Poseidon asked. Both versions of his son nodded.

 **Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Foreshadowing." Hephaestus grunted.

 **Mr Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer." Athena corrected primly.

 **He gathered us around a four-metre-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age.**

 **He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"That's not very good of her." Athena frowned.

Hades was thinking that Mrs Dodds sounded kind of familiar. He turned pale when he realized that it was Alecto. _I hope Poseidon doesn't kill me for this._ He internally mused.

 **Mrs Dodds was this little maths teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last maths teacher had a nervous breakdown. From her first day, Mrs Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, 'Now, honey,' real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Hades internally facepalmed. _I am so dead. I hope the boy isn't too badly hurt, or Poseidon will not react well - unless Percy or Perseus stands up for me. Unlikely._

 **One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old maths workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs Dodds was human.**

 **He looked at me real serious and said, 'You're absolutely right.'**

"Oh come on!" Demeter sighed disgusted. "Is there a more hopeless satyr?"

Percy shrugged. "In his defence, it turned out all right in the end."

 **Mr Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, 'Will you shut up?'**

 **It came out louder than I meant it to. The whole group laughed.**

"It always comes out louder than you mean it to, cuz." Apollo grinned.

 **Mr Brunner stopped his story. 'Mr Jackson,' he said, 'did you have a comment?'**

 **My face was totally red. I said, 'No, sir.' Mr Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. 'Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?'**

"He won't be able to get it." Dionysus muttered.

 **I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it.**

Dionysus raised an eyebrow. "I take it back."

 **'That's Kronos eating his kids, right?'**

The eldest gods groaned. "It had to be that one." Zeus mumbled.

 **'Yes,' Mr Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. 'And he did this because...'**

 **'Well...' I racked my brain to remember. 'Kronos was the king god, and —'**

"GOD!" Zeus yelled.

 **'God?' Mr Brunner asked.**

 **'Titan,' I corrected myself. 'And... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters —'**

"Eeew!" Aphrodite shuddered.

 **'Eeew!' said one of the girls behind me.**

 **'— and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans,' I continued, 'and the gods won.'**

Ares laughed. "He just summed up the biggest war in history with a single sentence. Not bad, kid."

"That isn't a good thing, Ares." Athena protested.

 **Some snickers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, 'Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, "Please explain why Kronos ate his kids".'**

"It does for demigods." Apollo said sombrely.

 **'And why, Mr Jackson,' Brunner said, 'to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?'**

"Busted." Hermes noted.

 **'Busted,' Grover muttered.**

 **'Shut up,' Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. At least Nancy got in trouble, too. Mr Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Horse ears, more like." Dionysus scowled. "Cheater."

 **I thought about his question, and shrugged. 'I don't know, sir.'**

"Because you're a demigod." Zeus said bluntly. "Now hurry up and find my master bolt already."

"Relax, brother." Poseidon said. "This has to be important, or it wouldn't have been written down. Besides, you do realize that even though he'll find it in the book, you won't get it back until he finds it in real life, right?"

Zeus nodded, but his mildly guilty posture meant that no-one believed him. No-one said anything.

 **'I see.' Mr Brunner looked disappointed. 'Well, half credit, Mr Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs Dodds, would you lead us back outside?'**

"How is that a happy note?" Aphrodite questioned. "It's horrible."

Perseus shuddered at the mention of that place. Poseidon frowned in thought before a horrible possibility occurred to him. He glanced at Athena, who nodded. Perseus had been to Tartarus. Poseidon resolved not to speak of it for now, as he could have announced it with the rest of his titles if he wanted everyone to know. He obviously didn't. He could speak with Perseus later, in private where no-one could overhear.

 **The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. Grover and I were about to follow when Mr Brunner said, 'Mr Jackson.'**

 **I knew that was coming. I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned towards Mr Brunner. 'Sir?'**

 **Mr Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go — intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Three thousand." Artemis said.

 **'You must learn the answer to my question,' Mr Brunner told me.**

 **'About the Titans?'**

 **'About real life. And how your studies apply to it.'**

 **'Oh.'**

"Why do I get the feeling that that is a typical Percy Jackson answer?" Athena sighed.

"It is." Percy said.

 **'What you learn from me,' he said, 'is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.'**

"Good, because he'll need it." Hephaestus said. Everyone looked at him. "What? I have emotions too."

 **I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard. I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armour and shouted: 'What ho!' and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Does he really? That sounds fun." Athena said.

"Fun?" Hermes questioned. "That is not fun, Athena. That is really not fun."

 **But Mr Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No — he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"My children have the same spelling problem." Athena admitted. "But that isn't an excuse for not learning the names and facts!"

 **I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

 **The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. Nobody else seemed to notice.**

"Gotta love the mist." Hermes said.

 **Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's bag, and, of course, Mrs Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"Definitely not one of mine!" Hermes protested. "She was seen. None of my children would be that sloppy, trained or not."

Hades rolled his eyes. Of course.

 **Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school — the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"You are not loser freaks." Poseidon growled protectively.

 **'Detention?' Grover asked.**

 **'Nah,' I said. 'Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean — I'm not a genius.'**

Athena sniffed, but chose not to comment.

 **Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, 'Can I have your apple?'**

They were all laughing again.

 **I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

 **I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Mama's boy." Ares grunted. Hera glared again.

"What exactly is wrong with that?" She demanded.

"Nothing!" Ares said quickly. "Nothing at all!" Everyone stared at Hera.

"Are you feeling all right?" Aphrodite asked.

"I'm fine, why?" Hera said. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Because you just defended a demigod." Demeter said. "You never do that."

"At least he cares about his family." Hera sniffed. The whole room collectively went 'ahh' in understanding.

 **Mr Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.**

Hephaestus pulled up a notepad and started jotting stuff down.

 **I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends — I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists — and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Hestia frowned. "How rude."

"Don't worry, I doubt Percy will stand for it." Poseidon said, glancing at the two versions of his son, both of whom were glaring into the distance, obviously annoyed.

 **'Oops.' She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Gross." Aphrodite whimpered.

 **I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, 'Count to ten, get control of your temper.'**

"If your temper is anything to go by, Uncle, that isn't going to work." Apollo grinned.

 **But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

 **I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, 'Percy pushed me!'**

"Awesome!" Hermes and Apollo grinned.

"Not if Mrs Dodds is a monster it isn't." Artemis cut them off.

"Crap." They chorused simultaneously.

 **Mrs Dodds materialized next to us.**

 **Some of the kids were whispering:**

 **'Did you see —'**

 **'— the water —'**

 **'— like it grabbed her —'**

"He's quite strong, for someone with no training. He'll probably be incredibly powerful when he is grown." Zeus noted blankly. Poseidon stared at him with suspicion.

"You're not going to try to kill him, are you?" He asked warily.

Zeus looked at him and sighed. "No, just wondering if he's that powerful because he's the prophecy child." Poseidon accepted the explanation but didn't stop thinking about Zeus's odd behaviour.

 **I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

 **As soon as Mrs Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester.**

"You probably did do something she'd been waiting for." Poseidon sighed mournfully, worried about his son. He knew that he survived the encounter, but that didn't mean he worried any less.

 **'Now, honey —'**

 **'I know,' I grumbled. 'A month erasing textbooks.'**

"NO!" Hermes yelled. "Don't say that!"

 **That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"No kidding." Hermes grumbled.

 **'Come with me,' Mrs Dodds said.**

"Don't." Athena and Poseidon both said instantly. They blushed and looked away from each other in embarrassment. Aphrodite squealed internally, not willing to risk he consequences should she reveal her belief that the two would make a great couple to the couple in question. She liked her head just where it is, thank you very much.

 **'Wait!' Grover yelped. 'It was me. I pushed her.'**

Dionysus started in surprise. "You know, maybe that satyr is braver - and stupider - than I thought."

 **I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"He should be scared." Hades grumbled.

"Why is that, brother?" Poseidon asked.

"Just read, and try to remember hat it hasn't happened yet."

 **She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. 'I don't think so, Mr Underwood,' she said.**

 **'But —'**

 **'You — will— stay — here.'**

 **Grover looked at me desperately.**

 **'It's okay, man,' I told him. 'Thanks for trying.'**

 **'Honey,' Mrs Dodds barked at me. 'Now.'**

 **Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. I then turned to face Mrs Dodds, but she wasn't there.**

"Deluxe I'll kill you later stare?" Ares asked. Percy demonstrated and Ares paled.

"Are you alright Ares, you don't look well." Apollo smirked. Ares started glaring.

 **She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

"She's a monster, isn't she?" Poseidon asked his son. Percy nodded and looked at his feet. "Which one?"

"Um, does it matter right now?" Percy asked sheepishly as he refused to meet his fathers gaze. Poseidon turned to Perseus instead.

"It's not a nice monster. I'll let the book explain, just try to remember that I'm fine, okay?" Perseus answered evasively and looked at Athena to continue reading.

 **How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it.**

 **The school counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"You wish, punk." Ares commented dryly.

 **I wasn't so sure.**

 **I went after Mrs Dodds.**

"Bad idea, young hero." Hestia softly interjected from beside the hearth.

 **Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr Brunner, like he wanted Mr Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"I will kill him." Poseidon said flatly.

"Relax dad, it hasn't happened yet." Percy pointed out.

 **I looked back up.**

 **Mrs Dodds had disappeared again.**

 **She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

 **Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Nope." Dionysus said.

"Dionysus, shut up!" Poseidon commanded. His knuckles were white as he gripped the arms of his throne.

 **But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

 **I followed her deeper into the museum.**

"Tactically a bad idea." Athena said before shutting up when faced with Poseidon's glare.

 **When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

 **Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

 **Mrs Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods.**

 **She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

"She does." Hestia whispered mournfully.

 **'You've been giving us problems, honey,' she said.**

 **I did the safe thing. I said, 'Yes, ma'am.'**

"Safe thing." Percy snorted. "Annabeth would be shocked."

"Yes, she would." Perseus agreed wistfully.

"Annabeth Chase?" Athena asked.

"Yep." Percy replied. At Athena's questioning look, he gave more detail. "She's a friend of mine." Athena looked unconvinced, but didn't press the issue.

 **She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. 'Did you really think you would get away with it?'**

"Get away with what?" Dionysus asked.

"Well, seeing as Zeus master bolt and Hades helm of darkness has been stolen, the logical conclusion would be that whatever she is, she was sent by either Hades or Zeus to retrieve the helm and the bolt, respectively." Athena explained.

 **The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

Artemis shook her head sadly. _If only._

 **I said, 'I'll — I'll try harder, ma'am.' Thunder shook the building.**

 **'We are not fools, Percy Jackson,' Mrs Dodds said. 'It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain.'**

"Not reassuring." Poseidon said dully.

 **I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

Hermes and Apollo began to chuckle.

 **Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"There is nothing wrong with reading the book." Athena glared at the hero.

"I've read it now, Annabeth made me." Percy defended himself.

Athena's glare softened slightly. "Well, that's something I suppose." She admitted.

 **'Well?' she demanded.**

 **'Ma'am, I don't...'**

 **'Your time is up,' she hissed.**

 **Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"A FURY!" Poseidon lunged for Hades before anyone could hold him back, but before he could try to punch the lights out of his brother, both versions of Percy stepped in front of Hades.

"Dad, no, he had good reason." Percy said. Poseidon stopped dead.

"Good reason! He sent a fury after you!" He fumed. He glared at Hades, who despite himself cowered a little.

"He thought I stole his helm." Percy defended.

"And besides, he's my friend in the future." Perseus added. Dead silence followed that revelation. Percy broke it first.

"I'm on okay terms with Hades, but I wouldn't say we're friends. How did that happen?"

Perseus shrugged. "He's not so bad when he doesn't think you've stolen his master bolt or are an upstart demigod."

"Hah." Percy snorted in amusement. "He really didn't like me for that did he?"

"Nope." Perseus agreed. "But it wasn't my fault I was older!"

The rest of the room looked on in bemusement. Poseidon sat back down, sighing at the mystery that was his son. Hades looked at Perseus and wondered what the boy did to get on his good side. Athena continued reading.

 **Then things got even stranger. Mr Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"The phrase 'the pen is mightier than the sword' can be taken too literally you know, Chiron." Ares snorted.

 **'What ho, Percy!' he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

 **Mrs Dodds lunged at me. With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear.**

 **I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen any more. It was a sword — Mr Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Chiron used Anaklusmos in class?" Poseidon asked shocked.

 **Mrs Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

 **She snarled, 'Die, honey!' And she flew straight at me.**

"The brat's as good as dead." Dionysus muttered only to be soaked to the skin with seawater.

 **Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Naturally." Ares deadpanned. "Is he a legacy of mine?"

"You wish." Poseidon glared.

 **The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.**

 **Hisss! Mrs Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulphur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"He actually killed it." Artemis sounded stunned. "That thing has killed several of my best hunters and a boy with no training killed it in one stroke."

"Or maybe you're not as good as you think you are." Apollo grinned before cowering beneath her glare.

 **I was alone.**

 **There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

 **Mr Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Oh no. The mist." Hermes said.

"That's not good." Athena gulped.

"Why not?" Demeter asked.

"Because now his enemies are prepared for him, but he can't prepare for them." Ares said.

Everyone stared.

"What? It's tactics. A part of War."

Everyone looked away.

 **Had I imagined the whole thing?**

 **I went back outside. It had started to rain.**

 **Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head.**

 **Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, 'I hope Mrs Kerr whipped your butt.'**

"Who?" Poseidon asked, still recovering from the heart attack his son's near death experience brought on.

 **I said, 'Who?'**

 **'Our teacher. Duh!'**

 **I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs Kerr.**

"Yes, you do. As far as your classmates know, your teacher has always been Mrs Kerr. Try to keep up." Dionysus moaned.

 **I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

 **I asked Grover where Mrs Dodds was.**

"He's not going to be able to fool Percy." Hermes grinned. "Maybe he'll figure it out."

 **He said, 'Who?' But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Told ya." Hermes grinned.

"No-one said otherwise." Hera pointed out.

"It's the principle of the thing." Hermes shrugged.

 **'Not funny, man,' I told him. 'This is serious.' Thunder boomed overhead.**

"Drama queen." Poseidon and Hades muttered.

 **I saw Mr Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted.**

 **'Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr Jackson.'**

"He's a good liar." Hermes noted.

"I know." Dionysus grunted sourly. "He uses it to beat me at Pinochle."

 **I handed it over. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

 **'Sir,' I said, 'where's Mrs Dodds?'**

 **He stared at me blankly. 'Who?'**

 **'The other chaperone. Mrs Dodds. The maths teacher.' He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned.**

 **'Percy, there is no Mrs Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?'**

"He's going to make Percy think he's insane." Poseidon said displeased. "I've got to have a talk with him about how he handles these situations."

"No-one messes with my satyrs but me!" Dionysus yelled.

"I was talking about Chiron." Poseidon pointed out. "The fact that the satyr can't lie worth a damn actually benefits my son in this situation."

"Oh, that's fine then." Dionysus went back to reading his wine magazine.

"Can I read next?" Demeter asked.

Athena passed the book over.

"Three old ladies knit the socks of death." She read.

 _So, over 5,500 words! Admittedly, three thousand of these are Rick's, but the rest are mine!_

 _Till next time, Shib. :)_


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

 **I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs Kerr – a perky blonde woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip – had been our maths teacher since Christmas. Every so often I would spring a Mrs Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"I am psycho." Percy and Perseus said simultaneously. Poseidon winced.

 **It got so I almost believed them – Mrs Dodds had never existed. Almost.**

"Grover." Hermes said.

 **But Grover couldn't fool me.**

Apollo and Hermes high fived. Artemis shook her head at their immaturity.

 **When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Anyone would know that he was lying." Hermes sniffed disdainfully.

"Hermes, we want Percy to know that Grover is lying so that he'll be better prepared for monsters." Athena explained impatiently.

"Professional pride." Hermes excused himself.

 **Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

Poseidon looked at Perseus, remembering his earlier theory that Perseus suffered from nightmares and decided to keep and eye on him in the night. After all, they would need to sleep at one point. If Perseus woke from nightmares, Poseidon would know about it.

 **The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**

"You two are really having a go of it, aren't you?" Ares said gleefully.

Both Poseidon and Zeus glared at Ares. Hades glared too, but only so he wouldn't feel left out.

 **One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

Glares directed at Zeus.

 **I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

Athena sent Percy a look of disappointment. "If you're going to be friends with my daughter, Perseus, you had better start getting better grades than that."

Percy chuckled. "Don't worry Lady Athena, they get better with Annabeth's help."

"Wait, so Annabeth is your daughter?" Poseidon asked.

Athena rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

Poseidon turned to Percy. "Why are you friends with a daughter of Athena?" He asked.

"Why not?" Perseus butted in. "I don't see why our parents' rivalries should be ours, and anyway I owe Annabeth my life several times over."

"Me too." Percy nodded his agreement. Athena looked at Perseus with pride.

 **Finally, when our English teacher, Mr Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

Athena choked out a guilty laugh.

"You know, I still don't know what that means." Percy said thoughtfully.

"Old drunkard." Perseus elaborated.

 **The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

 **Fine, I told myself. Just fine. I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Obnoxious stepfather?" Poseidon asked.

"Poker parties?" Dionysus questioned. Percy looked pleadingly at Athena and she nudged Demeter to continue reading before Poseidon could question him further.

 **And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"He cares." Hestia smiled. Silently, Artemis agreed.

 **I'd miss Latin class, too – Mr Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me.**

"Good." Poseidon whispered, having been reminded of the danger his son was in.

 **I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**

"Don't throw books." Athena said severely. Percy shifted uncomfortably but Perseus looked Athena straight in the eye and spoke.

"I apologize Lady Athena, it won't happen again." Athena watched him closely as if measuring his worth before nodding once and telling Demeter to carry on.

 **There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Latin is easier for Romans, that's why." Perseus said, staring into space.

"Romans? What's that got to do with anything?" Percy asked. Perseus waved his hands dismissively. "You'll find out in eight months."

 **I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

 **I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat 'F' I was about to score on his exam.**

Athena smiled at Perseus. "Well done for trying." She praised him.

"Thank you, Lady Athena." Perseus replied.

 **I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

 **I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said, '... worried about Percy, sir.'**

"Uh oh. Here comes trouble." Hermes sang. "Percy's going to eavesdrop. I take it back Uncle P, I don't need to teach him anything."

Poseidon scowled. "That's fine, I just don't want you corrupting him."

Hermes opened his mouth to argue but Demeter just talked over him.

 **I froze. I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

 **I inched closer. '... alone this summer,' Grover was saying. 'I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too –'**

"Then take him to where he will be safe." Poseidon yelled. Athena opened her mouth to tell him he was just talking to a book, but Perseus caught her eye and she closed her mouth without speaking.

 **'We would only make matters worse by rushing him,' Mr Brunner said. 'We need the boy to mature more.'**

Percy started laughing and Perseus had a faint smile on his face.

"Why is that funny?" Poseidon asked bemused.

"I still haven't matured." Percy laughed.

"In all fairness, you have now." Perseus told his younger self.

"Oh? What started it?" Percy asked.

"Memory loss. All I knew was my name and I remembered tons of architecture facts from Annabeth."

Percy winced. "Ouch."

 **'But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline –'**

 **'Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.'**

 **'Sir, he saw her...'**

 **'His imagination,' Mr Brunner insisted. 'The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that.'**

"It will convince him he's crazy." Poseidon grumbled.

 **'Sir, I... I can't fail in my duties again.' Grover's voice was choked with emotion. 'You know what that would mean.'**

"What would that mean?" Demeter asked.

"He was the satyr who saved my daughter and Luke Castellan on the mission that Thalia died." Athena answered, looking at Zeus who was scowling. "He was told he had to complete a successful mission as a keeper before he would be given his searchers licence to look for Pan."

"Not dead." Perseus spoke up suddenly.

"What?" Zeus asked him.

"You turned her into a tree. She isn't actually dead. It would be possible to restore her."

"How do you know this?" Zeus asked, hope half-hidden in his tone.

"The Golden Fleece." Percy said.

"It restores the tree, and her with it, but as a separate being. It flushed her out after healing her, so to speak. What you did was basically put her on life support. It should be in the second book."

"She's alive?" Zeus said. Percy nodded. Hera glared.

 **'You haven't failed, Grover,' Mr Brunner said kindly. 'I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next autumn –'**

Poseidon winced.

 **The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. Mr Brunner went silent.**

"Never give away your position." Hermes said.

 **My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"Because it is." Artemis said, stroking her own bow lovingly.

"Why is he out of his wheelchair?" Hephaestus rumbled.

Poseidon shrugged helplessly. "I'm going to have to talk to him about his methods." He said. "I don't appreciate him trying to convince my son that he is crazy."

 **I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

 **A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Somewhere in the hallway, Mr Brunner spoke. 'Nothing,' he murmured. 'My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice.'**

"Neither have mine." Zeus moaned.

 **'Mine neither,' Grover said. 'But I could have sworn...'**

"Zeus thinks like a goat." Hermes and Apollo yelled.

Zeus stared at them evenly. "Artemis?" He said.

"Yes?"

"The next time those two give you a reason - any reason - shoot them for me please. I do not appreciate being compared to a goat, let alone the goat that didn't save my daughter."

"I can shoot them anywhere, Father?" Artemis began grinning evilly.

"Anywhere at all." He promised.

"It would be my pleasure."

 **'Go back to the dorm,' Mr Brunner told him. 'You've got a long day of exams tomorrow.'**

 **'Don't remind me.' The lights went out in Mr Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

"He got away with it." Hermes sighed in relief, then leaped out of his throne and ducked behind it in time to avoid a silver arrow. "Hey!"

"In a way." Athena began, paying no heed to the antics of her siblings, "It would be better if Percy had been caught. If Chiron knew that Percy knew as much as he did, he might have taken him straight to camp."

Poseidon nodded mournfully. Anything that made his son safer was okay with him.

 **Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night. 'Hey,' he said, bleary-eyed. 'You going to be ready for this test?' I didn't answer. 'You look awful.' He frowned. 'Is everything okay?'**

 **'Just... tired.' I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"He can read your emotions." Dionysus said. "That isn't going to work."

"We know, Dionysus, but he doesn't." Aphrodite snapped.

 **But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"You are." Poseidon whispered mournfully.

 **The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr Brunner called me back inside.**

"Three hour Latin exam?" Zeus asked looking mildly ill.

"Never mind that, why has he called Percy back?" Poseidon asked.

 **For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

 **'Percy,' he said. 'Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's... it's for the best.' His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear.**

Hestia frowned. "Do not be disheartened, Hero, he doesn't mean it like that."

Perseus nodded. "I know." They said.

 **Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. I mumbled, 'Okay, sir.'**

"Even I have to admit that the girl needs to be taught a lesson." Artemis commented, her nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Yes! If she used concealer to hide the freckles and dyed her hair a nice brown, she'd be much prettier!" Aphrodite squealed.

" ... not the point." Hades mumbled.

 **'I mean...' Mr Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. 'This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time.'**

Ares laughed. "Punks not gonna like that."

Aphrodite glared at him. "That's not nice Ares."

"What?" But she was ignoring him.

 **My eyes stung. Here was my favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"No one is destined to get kicked out, everyone can succeed if they try hard enough." Athena said. "You know, I don't think that Chiron has much awareness of the feelings of the demigods he trains."

"No shit." Dionysus said. "I'm insensitive, but at least I'm aware of it."

 **'Right,' I said, trembling. 'No, no,' Mr Brunner said. 'Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be –'**

"I'm going to kill him." Poseidon said flatly.

"Please don't." Perseus said. "He did train me, and he was quite good at it. His training helped."

Poseidon glanced at his son. "I'm still talking to him about his decisions though."

 **'Thanks,' I blurted. 'Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.'**

 **'Percy –' But I was already gone.**

"Badly handled, Chiron." Hestia shook her head sadly.

 **On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month.**

 **They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Nobodies?" Zeus asked a dangerous glint in his eye.

"Sorry, but I didn't know who I was at the time!" Percy protested.

"Still -" Zeus began. Perseus cut him off.

"If you'd been raised the way I was, you'd believe that too." Zeus quieted down after that, looking at him thoughtfully. As far as he knew, Percy had never had a bad home life. Not that he'd taken the time to look, but still.

"What do you mean?" Poseidon asked.

"It isn't mine to tell." Perseus said, looking at his younger self.

Percy shook his head violently, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "If I remember rightly, you'll see more than I'd like soon enough anyway."

Poseidon was going to press for more details but Athena shook her head and urged him to let it go with her eyes. He hesitated, but complied. Enemy or not, she was the wisdom goddess and she had shown a fondness for Perseus.

 **They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the autumn.**

"He has a hard life." Hestia said sadly.

"Tell me about it." Perseus muttered.

 **'Oh,' one of the guys said. 'That's cool.' They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

 **The only person I dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover but, as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Stalker." Apollo and Hermes sang. Hermes yelled in pain when an arrow sunk into his foot and Apollo managed to shift sideways enough that the arrow heading towards him hit his hip.

Zeus sighed. "I think I mentioned only shooting them once each, Artemis." He said. "This is the second time you've shot at Hermes."

"Yes, but the first one didn't hit, so it doesn't count." Artemis grinned innocently. Apollo groaned and started to heal himself before helping Hermes.

 **During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

"Understandable." Hephaestus said. "That particular satyr seems to have a knack for finding powerful demigods and powerful monsters follow them."

 **Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. Finally I couldn't stand it any more.**

 **I said, 'Looking for Kindly Ones?' Grover nearly jumped out of his seat.**

Poseidon smiled. "Oh, that would have scared him out of his mind."

"Yes, and that's my job." Dionysus glared.

 **'Wha – what do you mean?' I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr Brunner the night before the exam. Grover's eye twitched. 'How much did you hear?'**

 **'Oh... not much. What's the summer-solstice deadline?' He winced.**

"Not much, just all of it." Hades grinned.

 **'Look, Percy... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon maths teachers...'**

"Bad liar." Hermes commented.

 **'Grover –'**

 **'And I was telling Mr Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs Dodds, and...'**

 **'Grover, you're a really, really bad liar.' His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. 'Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.'**

"He's going to take it the wrong way again." Hera said.

 **The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

 **Grover Underwood,**

 **Keeper**

 **Half-Blood Hill**

 **Long Island,**

 **New York(800)009-0009**

 **'What's Half –'**

"Names have power, young demigod, best remember that." Zeus pointed out.

"I don't know that yet." Percy added. He still looked pale, but at least he was talking. He had a fragile look about him, and Poseidon was glad he'd followed Athena's unspoken command not to push him.

 **'Don't say it aloud!' he yelped. 'That's my, um... summer address.'**

 **My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

 **'Okay,' I said glumly. 'So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion.' He nodded. 'Or... or if you need me.'**

 **'Why would I need you?'**

"Harsh." Ares grinned. "Maybe they'll fight now."

Aphrodite looked disgusted. "Or maybe they won't because some people don't turn everything into a fight."

 **It came out harsher than I meant it too. Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple.**

"He knows he was wrong." Hestia smiled at Percy and Perseus.

 **'Look, Percy, the truth is, I – I kind of have to protect you.' I stared at him. All year long, I'd gotten in fights keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"You lost sleep worrying about him?" Artemis asked. Percy blushed and looked away in embarrassment. Perseus just looked at the ground, lost in bad memories.

 **'Grover,' I said, 'what exactly are you protecting me from?'**

No one in the room said anything, all well aware of what Grover was protecting Percy from.

 **There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off.**

"Naturally." Poseidon groaned. "Does anything go right for you?"

Percy shook his head and Perseus said, "Only inasmuch as I never die."

 **Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road – no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"Oh dear." Athena said in a small voice.

"What?" Poseidon asked. Athena just shook her head and looked at Perseus in horror.

 **The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"Oh no." Poseidon said in a dread-filled voice. He understood Athena's reaction now.

 **I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

 **All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

A chorus of dismay went up as the rest of the room realized who the newcomers were.

 **The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

 **'Grover?' I said. 'Hey, man –'**

 **'Tell me they're not looking at you. They are. Aren't they?'**

 **'Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?'**

"Not funny. Please, don't joke about this."

 **'Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all.'**

 **The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

 **'We're getting on the bus,' he told me. 'Come on.'**

"It won't do any good." Apollo said. "Distance won't stop them, and if they want Percy to watch, then watch he will."

 **'What?' I said. 'It's a thousand degrees in there.'**

 **'Come on!' He prised open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

Poseidon flinched, as did the gods who had begun to like Percy.

 **Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for – Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

 **At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. The passengers cheered.**

 **'Darn right!' yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. 'Everybody back on board!'**

"Too late." Hades said sorrowfully. Perseus had called him a friend, after all. Not many were willing to do that.

 **Once we got going. I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. 'Grover?'**

 **'Yeah?'**

 **'What are you not telling me?'**

 **He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. 'Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?'**

 **'You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like... Mrs Dodds, are they?'**

"Worse." Artemis muttered.

 **His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs Dodds.**

 **He said, 'Just tell me what you saw.'**

 **'The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn.' He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost – older.**

"Observant." Athena complimented, but everyone could see that her heart wasn't in it.

 **He said, 'You saw her snip the cord.'**

 **'Yeah. So?' But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"Indeed it is, young hero." Hestia said.

 **'This is not happening,' Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. 'I don't want this to be like the last time.'**

 **'What last time?'**

 **'Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.'**

 **'Grover,' I said, because he was really starting to scare me. 'What are you talking about?'**

 **'Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.' This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"He won't." Dionysus said flatly. "Not if Grover continues to creep him out."

 **'Is this like a superstition or something?' I asked. No answer.**

 **'Grover – that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?'**

"Yes." Hades said.

 **He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Accurate enough." Ares said. He was promptly hit by two arrows (one silver and one gold), skewered with a trident, tied down by grass and strangled by vines. He even got electrocuted.

Apollo towed him away to be healed later. He'd survive till then, and maybe he'd learn something in reflection.

The room was silent after the appearance of the fates in the story. Percy broke it.

"It wasn't mine, you know." He said.

"What?" Poseidon asked.

"It wasn't my thread the fates cut. Their life was tied to my choice, but it wasn't me who died."

Poseidon - and a number of others in the room - sighed in relief. "How do you know for certain that the electric-blue thread wasn't yours?"

"Because mine is sea-green mixed with gold and white." Perseus said. Poseidon turned to look at the older version of his son. "I've seen it."

"Did they cut it?" Poseidon asked fearfully. "No, although at that point I wouldn't have minded much if they had." He stared off into space.

"What do you mean?" Poseidon asked gently. He and his son were very alike in many ways, and he knew that Perseus wouldn't have said as much as he did unless he was willing to talk about it. He also knew that he had to be careful not to push him too far, lest he snap. Still, maybe Poseidon could ease some of the pain he saw in his son's eyes.

"I wasn't suicidal exactly." Perseus said tonelessly. "But I didn't much care if I lived or died at that point. After seeing so many friends die, watching my string being cut would have made me feel better, knowing that I was going to see them again one way or the other." He said the whole thing emotionlessly, matter-of-factly, like it didn't mean anything. Most of the goddesses were in tears by now, and a few of the gods were as well, Poseidon included.

Poseidon got off his throne and shrunk himself to human size, walked over to his son and conjured a sofa. He then hugged Perseus. The twenty year old tensed at first, but relaxed when Poseidon showed no signs of letting go. Poseidon sat down on the sofa, pulling Perseus against him as if he were still a child and a lot smaller. Perseus struggled. "Let me go."

"Nope." Poseidon said. "You say things like that, you get a hug till you feel better. Besides," he used the one tactic he was sure would work on Perseus. "I have a feeling that you'll be almost dying a lot in this book of yours, and it makes me feel better to know you're alright."

Perseus sighed, but gave in at that as Poseidon knew he would. Even hurt as he was, his son would still try to make others feel better. Poseidon looked at the younger version of his son and wondered what it must be like to meet your future self and find out that at one point, you would be so hurt as to not care if you lived or died.

"Come over here, Percy." Poseidon ordered. Percy thought about saying no, but the look in his fathers eye suggested that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He sighed and walked over. After reaching grabbing distance Poseidon pulled Percy down to join them, holding the younger version of his son against his side and giving him no opportunity to escape.

One by one, all the gods shrunk themselves down to human size and conjured their own chair or sofa to sit on.

"Who wants to read next?" Demeter asked.

"I will." Hestia volunteered.

"Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Trousers." She read.

 _So, another chapter done. I confess, it's hard to think of things the gods would say that everyone else hasn't already done._

 _I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Till next time, Shib._


End file.
